Super Bowl Commercials Pull on Audiences’ Heartstrings

If the Patriots’ victory over the Seahawks was not entertaining enough, the advertisements during Super Bowl XLIX seemed to have viewers talking.

For $4.5 million, companies could share their 30 second ad on the biggest television event of the year. While some commercials made audiences laugh, the overall theme of the ad campaigns seemed to focus on family and audiences’ emotions.

Cece Shabazz, Creative Director of the Focus Group Ad Agency, says, “It seemed like this year, all the ads geared more towards a socially conscience message. You had a lot of appeal to the emotions. From the Microsoft ads to the McDonald’s ads, the Nationwide ads, everybody wanted to kind of get you to the point that you’re grabbing tissues in the middle of the football game.”

A 2012 study of Super Bowl ads by Kantar Media found the ads generated $11 million worth of publicity for the companies.